In the manufacture of flexible pouches for dispensing purposes wherein the pouch includes a dispensing spout or internal channel through which the package contents may be expressed through the spout upon rupture or tear removal of a discharge spout terminal end portion of the package and squeezing of the package, there exists the fabrication difficulty of so forming and peripherally heat sealing the package so that the relatively narrow discharge spout passageway through the sealed package area will be reliably present when it is desired to use the pouch contents.
Such dispensing packages are well known in the art, and are illustrated in prior U.S. Pat. No., as Kaplan Re. 24,251 or Carlisle U.S. Pat. No. 3,878,977, among others. One of the most successful of these pouch packages is that marketed under the trademark "SPOUT-PAK" and shown in my prior U.S. Pat. No. 4,491,245 issued to Jamison on Jan. 1, 1985 and entitled Liquid Dispensing Container. The dispensing pouch there shown is especially characterized by a tortuous, serpentine and reversely curved discharge passageway which is highly effective to control discharge of the package contents while simultaneously providing drip-free characteristics.
It will be seen that in the manufacture of pouches containing fluid contents, as various comestibles on the order of mustard, ketchup, syrup, or other liquids and viscous materials as lotions , alcohol, wine, paint, etc., when the package is fabricated from peripherally sealed face-to-face contacting sheets of web material, typically multi-layer laminates including diverse gas and liquid barrier materials as polymer-coated or laminated metal foil and the like with suitable printed indicia, it is important that upon rupture of a terminal portion of a discharge passageway as by tearing off a corner part of the package, the ready discharge of the contents may be effected and that the discharge passage defined through the sealed pouch sheets from the main supply of the contents be readily opened by separation of the unsealed webs therealong upon applied pressure to the contents portion of the pouch so that the contents will flow from the supply area of the pouch outwardly through the much narrower spout passageway without hindrance.
The importance of proper flow upon pouch squeezing dispensing pressure is vital to the success of all pouches of the type contemplated, and especially significant in the provision of a unique complex and reliable pouch such as the aforesaid "SPOUT-PAK" pouch wherein the discharge passageway has a serpentine and reversely directed configuration, as a failure in the opposing pouch walls defining the spout passageway to properly distend or flex under fluid pressure would render the package virtually useless and undesireable to the consumer or other user.